Slide fasteners having a separable end connection

ABSTRACT

A slide fastener is provided with a separating means disposed over and around the opposed beaded edges of a pair of stringer tapes at the lower end thereof, to provide a separable end connection. The tape ends constituting this connection are reinforced by a suitable plastic material in a manner such that there are provided stiff and soft surface regions alternating in location substantially over the entire surfaces of said tape ends.

United States Patent [191 Shimotani et al.

[ Oct. 14, 1975 SLIDE FASTENERS HAVING A SEPARABLE END CONNECTION [75]Inventors: Eizo Shimotani; Tadashi Sumiyoshi,

both of Uozu, Japan [73] Assignee: Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,

Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Mar. 7, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 449,196

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 20, 1973 Japan 48-34175 52us. Cl. 24/205.11 F [51] Int. Cl. A44B 19/36 [58] Field of Search24/205.1l F, 205.16 L

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,438,615 3/1948 3,030,6844/ 1 962 3,377,668 4/1968 Carlile 24/205.l

3,435,489 4/1969 Morin 3,488,239 1/1970 l-leimberger..... 3,616,93911/1971 Potin 3,663,996 5/1972 Heimberger 24/2051 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 1,183,194 3/1970 United Kingdom 24/205.1l F

87,313 6/1966 France 24/205.ll F 7,102,225 8/1971 Netherlands 24/205.11F

Primary Examiner-Bernard A. Gelak Attorney, Agent, or FirmBucknam andArcher [57] ABSTRACT 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures US. Patent 0a. 14, 1975FIG.1

MNNN WNW H L w SLIDE FASTENERS HAVING A SEPARABLE END CONNECTIONBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to slide fastenershaving a separable end connection and more particularly to means forfinishing and reinforcing such an end connection.

Slide fasteners of the type described are usually provided with aseparating instrument commonly known as pin and box" members attached toopposed beaded edges of a pair of stringer tapes along the lower endportions thereof. In order to provide suitable tape ends for attachmentof the pin and box members and at the same time to prevent fraying ofsuch tape ends, a reinforcing strip such as of a plastic film or tape isapplied with heat and pressure to each tape end so as to strengthen andstiffen that tape end. However, according to the conventional practice,the reinforcing strip is united to a tape end portion with uniformadhesive strength over its entire contiguous area, so that the resultingtape end portion is often rendered too stiff. While moderate stiffnessis desired for the purpose of facilitating the manipulation of the pinand box members, too stiff a tape end is liable to tear or crackparticularly in the vicinity of the pin and box in repeated use. Inaddition to being stiff or rigid, the conventional reinforced tape endis flat and slippery so that it is apt to slip objectionably relative toa garment or other article to which the slide fastener is applied,retarding the operation of the pin and box and further that stressesarising from manipulating the pin and box tend to act collectively uponand around and tear the sewing threads that secure the tape end to thegarment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide improvements in the construction of reinforced tapeends whereby the above noted various disadvantages of the prior art willbe eliminated; namely, the tape ends are rendered strong and rigid to amoderate extent to prohibit the tendency thereof to get torn cracked,the tape ends can be secured to an article with increased stability andwithout undue stresses tending to damage the sewing threads, andmanipulation of the pin and box members is improved.

These objects together with other features of the invention will appearmore clear in the course of the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way ofexample a preferred form of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the lower endof a slide fastener showing the tape end portion as finished andreinforced in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference now to FIG. 1 ofthe drawings, there is shown a slide fastener F which comprises a pairof opposed stringer tapes T ,T each having a beaded longitudinal edge 16along which a series of interlocking fastener elements E is attached.These series of fastener elements E are brought into and out ofinterlocking engagement by means of a slider (not shown) to close andopen the fastener F in a manner well known.

Designated at the reference numeral 10 is a separator provided at andseparably connecting the lower or bottom end 14 of the fastener F. Itconsists of a pin-like member 11 clamped to the beaded edge 16 of one ofthe stringer tapes and a pin-receiving socket or box 12 including asimilar pin-like member 13 clamped to the beaded edge 16 of the otherstringer tape, the socket or box 12 releasably receiving the pin 11 in amanner well known. The separator 10 is adapted to completely separatethe fastener stringers at that end to provide a separable end connectionconveniently used as in jackets, coats, bags and similar articles.

In accordance with the invention, the lower or bottom end portion 14which extends beyond the endmost fastener element on each stringer tapeT ,(T is reinforced by a reinforcing strip 15 of such plastic materialthat can be readily secured to the stringer tape with heat and pressure.The strip 15 is folded over and around the beaded edge 16 and tape endportion 14 of each stringer tape and adhesively united to both faces ofthat tape portion. It will be understood of course that the separator 10is secured to the beaded edges 16 after the latter have been thusfinished and reinforced.

According to an important aspect of the invention, the reinforced tapeend portion 14 is provided with alternate stiff surface regions 17 andsoft surface regions 18, the former representing a relatively strongbondage between the strip 15 and the tape T ,(T and the latterrepresenting a relatively weak bondage. The two different regions appearcross-sectionally to be alternate deflations 17 and inflations 18' asshown in FIG. 2. For the purpose of illustration, the soft surfaceregions 18 are shown to be circular in FIG. 1 but this configuration mayof course be variable. The alternate stiff and soft surface regions17,18 characteristic of the invention may be provided by varying theamount of pressure upon one region relative to the other region whenapplying the strip 15 to the tape end 14. The provision of thereinforced separable tape end 14 thus constructed is believed to bestaccomplish the afore-stated objects of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a slide fastener comprising a pair of opposed stringer tapes eachcarrying along one longitudinal edge a series of interlocking fastenerelements, a separable end connection extending beyond the endmostfastener elements on the tapes and including a reinforcing stripadhesively applied and bonded to an end portion of each tape atalternate stiff surface bonding regions and soft surface bondingregions, said stiff bonding region being more strongly bonded to eachtape than said soft bonding regions, and a separator secured to saidedges of the tapes at said end portion, said stiff and soft surfacebonding regions being each of limited area and disposed in spaced-apartrelation to one another in generally all directions.

2. A separable end connection as defined in claim 1 wherein said stiffsurface regions and said soft surface regions appear cross-sectionallyto be deflations and inflations, respectively.

1. In a slide fastener comprising a pair of opposed stringer tapes eachcarrying along one longitudinal edge a series of interlocking fastenerelements, a separable end connection extending beyond the endmostfastener elements on the tapes and including a reinforcing stripadhesively applied and bonded to an end portion of each tape atalternate stiff surface bonding regions and soft surface bondingregions, said stiff bonding region being more strongly bonded to eachtape than said soft bonding regions, and a separator secured to saidedges of the tapes at said end portion, said stiff and soft surfacebonding regions being each of limited area and disposed in spaced-apartrelation to one another in generally all directions.
 2. A separable endconnection as defined in claim 1 wherein said stiff surface regions andsaid soft surface regions appear cross-sectionally to be deflations andinflations, respectively.